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Ma found not guilty in corruption trial

Former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was yesterday found not guilty of corruption by the Taipei District Court.

Ma was indicted on Feb. 13 for allegedly embezzling NT$11 million (US$333,000) from his special mayoral allowance during his eight years in office.

Prosecutors said that between December 1998 and July last year, Ma wired half of his monthly special allowance -- NT$170,000 -- directly into a personal account. In this way, they said Ma had accumulated NT$11,176,227 in accounts belonging to himself and his wife.

Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) said prosecutors would decide whether or not to appeal the case to the Taiwan High Court after receiving and studying the ruling.

During the trial Ma admitted he had taken half of his monthly special allowance for personal use, but said he believed that government officials' special allowances should be treated as income, not as public funds.

"The court decided government officials' special allowances should be treated as a substantial subsidy -- as income -- and so Ma did not embezzle any public funds," Taipei District Court spokesman Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩) told a press conference yesterday.

Liu said the court upheld the view that government officials have, since 1973, not been required to account for half of their special allowance.

The court accepted that it was a matter of convention that officials enjoyed considerable flexibility in dealing with their special allowance funds, Liu said.

"The court is of the opinion that Ma had no intention to embezzle any public funds, nor did he attempt to mislead his [Taipei City Government] accountants and auditing staff," Liu said.

Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) announced the verdict at 10am: "Ma Ying-jeou is not guilty," leading to cheers from Ma's supporters waiting outside the courtroom.

Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁) had said in his indictment that the former mayor had admitted in his first interview that the special allowance fund should be used for public expenses. However, yesterday's ruling made no mention of such a confession.

Liu said the court believed Ma had answered a "leading" question from the prosecutor, and that Hou turned his answer into a confession.

The verdict stated that the transcript of Hou's questioning of Taipei City treasurer Wu Li-ju (吳麗洳) was "not credible." The court ruled there were serious discrepancies between an audio recording of the testimony and the transcript.

Furthermore, the court said Hou had asked hypothetical questions and the testimony did not have the authority of evidence. Although Hou recorded answers of "yes" and "uh" to his questions as affirmative responses, this was not necessarily the case, the court said.

The judges said Hou had taken statements out of context, and that they had never before seen such discrepancies in evidence.

Another defendant, Ma's former secretary Yu Wen (余文), was sentenced to 14 months in jail for using fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from Ma's special allowance fund.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Justin Chou (周守訓), Chen Chieh (陳杰) and dozens of Ma and KMT supporters gathered outside the courthouse cheered as the verdict was handed down.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) sent his congratulations to Ma, saying that the court had vindicated him.

"It's good that the court made the ruling on the grounds that the special allowance fund controversy is a result of everyone's mistakes, so that it would be unfair and unreasonable for the burden to be shouldered by a single person," Wang said.

KMT legislative whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) called on prosecutors to abandon thoughts of an appeal to conserve judicial resources.

KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said that the verdict represented justice for not only Ma, but also the 6,500 or so government officials who receive special allowances.

"I believe the ruling will come as a great relief to government officials nationwide," he said.

Given that the court had decided special allowances should be treated as a "substantial subsidy," there was no need for prosecutors to appeal, People First Party Legislator Lee Fu-tien (李復甸) said.

Lee said that the ruling should be used as a precedent for other special allowance cases involving officials.

However, he said it should not apply to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) alleged abuse of the presidential "state affairs fund."

"Despite similarities between special allowances and the presidential `state affairs fund,' Chen was also charged with using fake receipts to seek reimbursement from the fund," Lee said.

Meanwhile, the president declined to comment on Ma's acquittal, saying the case was not over yet.

"What matters now is to present the [Democratic Progressive Party, DPP] pairing with the best chance of winning the presidential election," he said. "What we should be worried about is the party's internal problems, not outside factors."

The DPP must unite, Chen said, rather than focus on how to benefit from others' mistakes.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said that she respected the judiciary, but the ruling was not final until the Supreme Court handed down the verdict.

Lu declined to comment on whether the ruling of the district court would affect next March's presidential election, saying that reporters should ask Ma's rival, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), for his opinion.

Wellington Koo (顧立雄), a member of first lady Wu Shu-jen's (吳淑珍) legal team, said that he would have to read the verdict before commenting on whether it would apply to Wu's case.

Wu and three former Presidential Office aides were indicted on charges of corruption for allegedly embezzling NT$14.8 million from Chen's "state affairs fund."

Upset by the verdict in Ma's case, the DPP yesterday urged prosecutors to appeal and go ahead with a second trial as soon as possible.

"We can't understand how the Taipei District Court could pronounce Ma not guilty even though the proof of his crime was beyond doubt," DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun told a press conference.

Yu said Ma had a clear motive and also clearly violated the law by wiring half of his mayoral special allowance into his personal accounts and spending the money on personal expenses.

"Justice was not served. This shows that we still have a long way to go to redress the many injustices of the past," he said.

DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), who was also at the conference, said the verdict contradicted a precedent.

He was referring to the case of independent Legislator Yen Chin-piao (顏清標), who was then speaker of Taichung County Council. Yen was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2001 for spending money from his special allowance in liquor stores. Yen is still appealing the case in the Supreme Court.

Elsewhere, DPP caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said Ma had set a poor example for the public by making inconsistent remarks about whether the special mayoral allowance was a public fund or part of his salary.

"US president [Richard] Nixon stepped down because he told lies in the Watergate scandal [in 1972] ... We want to tell Mr Ma that he is not qualified to be a presidential candidate because he also told lies [in his special allowance case]," Wang said.

When approached for comment, Taiwan Solidarity Union spokeswoman Chou Mei-li (周美里) said the party respected the court, but added that the verdict would only have a temporary influence on next year's presidential poll because voters would be more concerned about candidates' policies regarding the nation's future.

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